Lost Between Worlds
by Nemorian
Summary: A bizzare dream, a prank gone wrong, maybe odd mushrooms on that pizza he ate, no matter how Nemo tries to explain it, he can't. All he knows is that he and a handful of friends are fighting for their lives thanks to an event they can't even remember.
1. Awakening

_Chapter 1: Awakening_

_What is it… this feeling? My body… is so weak… why…?_

"Hey, are you okay?"

_A voice… in my mind?_

"Can you hear me?"

_Who are you? Get out… of my head…_

"Stop thrashing around, idiot! I'm trying to help you!"

Nemo awoke on his back with his arms raised into the air, as if he had been trying to fend someone off. Nobody was standing over him, but a scraping sound to his left made him bolt upright. A man in a dirty green uniform was sitting on the ground next to him, rubbing his cheek. He looked like some kind of soldier, and there was a machine gun on the ground next to him.

"Damn, you don't look very strong but that's a mean left hook you've got." He said, standing up. "Are you okay? What happened?"

Nemo didn't answer; he was too focused on the building they were in. It looked like it might have been an apartment at one time, but the couch was overturned, the lone window in the room was broken in places, and what looked like the remains of a table and chairs was littering the floor. The walls were beginning to fall apart, and were covered in what looked like bullet holes and bloodstains.

"Looks like they got this one good, huh Sam?" Nemo jumped at the voice of a second person. A woman in an outfit similar to the man's had appeared in one of the doorways, holding a shotgun. The room behind her looked like a kitchen, but it was in no better condition than the room they were currently in.

"Can't blame him. Some people aren't exactly keen on this fight. Caroline was on the verge of tears when we left her, remember?" The man said, turning to the woman. "We can't all be as sadistic as you, Rachel."

"Now that's just rude. Didn't anyone ever teach you how to treat a lady?"

"I'd hardly call you a lady." The man muttered under his breath, turning away from her.

"What was that?"

"I said you should be keeping a lookout, we don't want to be taken by surprise."

"Oh, yeah." The woman mumbled, turning and walking back into the kitchen, out of view.

The man grinned at Nemo, but it was obviously forced. "Sorry about her. I'm sure she's as anxious about this as we are, she just doesn't like to show it. I'm Samuel, by the way, but everyone calls me Sam. That was Rachel, just don't get on her bad side and you'll be fine."

"I'm… ah… Nemo." Nemo mumbled, still feeling extremely confused about what was going on. "Where exactly are we?"

"We're in an old apartment building. Rachel and I found you in the hallway just outside, we thought you were dead at first. There was a hole in the wall across from you, looked like a grenade made it. You must've been knocked out in the blast."

Nemo felt even more confused after hearing this. The last place he was wasn't even above ground. He scratched his head, wondering if this was all just some sort of joke. He glanced out of the window; a clear blue sky was visible in the gaps between other tall buildings he couldn't see the tops of. If it was a joke, someone went through a lot of trouble to pull it off. "What town is this though?"

Sam gave him an odd look before answering. "You're kidding, right? Did you hit your head or something?"

"Why don't you get thrown by a grenade blast into a wall and see if your head feels normal afterwards." Nemo grumbled. He knew it wasn't the truth – it couldn't be – it was probably one of his friend's stupid jokes. He always did go to far when it came to this sort of thing. Still, it seemed like he might as well play along for now. Maybe it would be fun.

"Fair point. A blast like that could do some damage to the best of us." Sam chuckled. "This is-"

A blast of gunfire interrupted him, and Rachel came running into the room. "Sam! They're coming!"

"Damn it!" Sam grabbed his gun and dashed over to the door, aiming into the kitchen. "Rachel, give the kid your spare piece, we're going to need his help."

"Right." Rachel pulled a pistol from her belt and dropped it on the floor next to Nemo. "Get ready, you can cover the window. If you see any C.P. running around down there, put a bullet in them." She said, before joining Sam at the door.

Nemo stared at the pistol for a moment before awkwardly picking it up. He'd never fired a gun before, but convinced it was all a gag, he got up and casually walked over to the window, looking into the alleyways below. They were deserted from what he could see. "All clear here." He said, leaning against the wall and continuing to peer outside.

"Good. The only way inside is through here. We'll hold them off; you pick off any backup coming from the alley." Sam said, running into the kitchen. The sound of gunfire soon followed.

Nemo watched Rachel go through as well and shrugged, figuring they must be using blanks for the sound. He was convinced this was another of his friend Jamie's stupid pranks. He never did learn how far was too far, this whole setup was probably costing him a small fortune.

The gunfire continued in the next room. Nemo was about to ask what was taking them so long when he noticed movement in the alley. Two figures were moving around down there, obscured by a shadow so he couldn't see what they looked like. Nemo glanced at the gun in his hand for a moment, raised it and began shooting what he figured were blanks at them. One dropped almost instantly, which made him even more convinced it was staged. The fact that he'd never fired a gun before, coupled with the fact he didn't even take the time to aim properly, made him sure he wouldn't have even hit the person, much less take them down in two shots.

The second person quickly turned and began firing toward the window Nemo was standing at. He shifted him aim slightly and fired at him as well, dropping the other gunman with relative ease as well, but not before he felt something nick his left arm. He glanced down and saw a tear in his sleeve, blood staining his tan coat.

There was a heavy clunk as he dropped to the ground along with his pistol. At that moment, he couldn't tell was what scaring him more He had noticed too many things at once. That the graze on his arm, along with the fresh bullet holes in the wall, showed that the people below had actually been using live ammo. That the clothes he last remembered wearing, a black sweat-suit and boots, had been replaced with a tan uniform with a Red Cross emblem on his right sleeve. And that he might have just-

Nemo grabbed the pistol off the floor and fired once at the wall. It left a bullet hole and he promptly dropped it again. He lifted himself up and stared out into the alleyway at the people still laying on the ground, small pools of blood now noticeable even from that height. He fell back onto the floor, feeling extremely sick. He had actually shot someone… killed someone… there's no way this could be just a joke.

He was so shocked and confused about what could be going on, that he didn't notice the gunfire in the next room had stopped until Rachel walked back into the room and dropped a machine gun on the floor. She gave the overturned couch a firm kick, righting it, and sat down.

Nemo stared at her for a moment, then looked into the kitchen. Sam was slumped on the floor with his back to them, his once green uniform stained red.

"Damn them!" Rachel yelled, startling Nemo. "Damn them all!"

Nemo hesitated, wondering if he dared to ask who she was referring to. He was trying to figure out what to say, when she looked up at him. "Yeah, go ahead." She sighed, leaning back on the couch and gazing at the cracked ceiling.

"Go ahead and what?" Nemo asked, not knowing what she meant.

"Take his gun… I prefer my shotgun and it's not like Sam can use it anymore." She said quietly, closing her eyes. "That's what you wanted to ask, isn't it?"

"Actually… I wanted to know who-"

A heavy clunk from the next room distracted him. Rachel leapt to her feet, aiming her shotgun at the doorway. A faint voice came from whatever room was beyond the kitchen, but he couldn't tell what it had said. Still, there was something oddly familiar about it.

Rachel pressed herself against the wall, so whoever was out there wouldn't see her when they looked in. She motioned for Nemo to do the same, and he complied without argument, still somewhere between confusion and fear. Footsteps slowly made their way into the kitchen, coming to a stop just on the other side of the doorframe.

"Is anyone in there?" A voice whispered.

Nemo froze. He knew that voice… he had only heard it a few times before, but was almost positive about who it was. "Amelia?" He whispered back.

They heard a gasp on the other side of the doorway. The voice spoke again, this time in slightly more than a whisper. "Guy with the odd name?"

"You're going to have to be more specific." Nemo replied in a normal voice.

A girl with long, blonde hair and dark brown eyes peered around the corner. "It is you… but who's she?" Amelia asked, looking at Rachel, who was aiming her shotgun at Amelia's face.

"Put it down, Rachel… she's a friend… well, acquaintance of mine." Nemo said, glancing at Rachel. She hesitated, then lowered her gun slightly.

Amelia walked around the corner, wearing the same kind of uniform as Rachel was. "This is all too weird… I'm glad I'm not on my own anymore though. It was scary… I was running through the streets, trying to escape those gun-wielding maniacs." She muttered, walking over to the couch and sitting down. "How did we get here, anyway?"

"I'd just like to know where 'here' is, to be honest." Nemo grumbled, leaning against the wall.

Amelia looked up at him, a look of confusion on her face. "You haven't figured it out yet? I thought you'd be the first to know, considering what Jamie told me."

It was Nemo's turn to look confused. "How would I know?"

"Go over to that window and look to the…" She considered for a moment. "left. Lean out a bit if you have to."

Nemo walked over to the window and did what she suggested, looking between the few buildings in his line of view. It took him a moment to notice it, but when he did he didn't know how he could have missed it. He followed it up into the sky with his eyes, until the upper area was obscured by clouds. He turned back to Amelia. "This… this isn't possible… it's all a set-up, right?" He stuttered.

Amelia slowly shook her head, never taking her eyes off him. He turned back to the window, staring at it again. He was brought out of his stupor by Amelia's voice.

"Welcome to City 17."


	2. Living a Half Life

_Chapter 2: Living a Half-Life_

"You… you can't be serious." Nemo mumbled, still looking out the window. He stared at the massive, bluish building that stretched up to the sky, the top hidden amongst the clouds. "How could we be… here?"

"I wish I knew." Amelia mumbled, still staring at Nemo as though he might just vanish. "At least you know what to expect though, I wish I did."

"I wish I didn't." Nemo said softly, thinking of the zombies, man-hacks and countless other things that could cause a very painful death. "I must be dreaming… it's that simple. It has to be."

"I thought that too at first, but it's not. If you don't believe me, jump out the window and try to fly, you'll know you're not dreaming about a second before you splat on the pavement."

"Would you two mind telling me what exactly you're talking about?" Rachel asked, giving them an annoyed look. "Of course we're in City 17! Where the hell else would we be?!"

Nemo and Amelia stared at her for a moment, and then turned to each other, each wondering if they should bother trying to explain something neither of them understood. After a few moments of silence, Amelia spoke. "I don't know about you, but we're supposed to be in my friend's house. We were, last I knew. Things are a bit hazy… do you remember anything, Nemo?"

"I've been more focused on the present than the past." Nemo said, looking back out the window. "I remember arriving at Jamie's place, but everything after that is gone… that's not unusual for me though. My memory has always been horrible."

"Even in this situation, you're about as helpful as a hernia. Why couldn't I have found someone less useless to be stuck with?" Amelia sighed, leaning back on the couch.

"And I see you're as much of a bitch as ever, in spite of the circumstances." Nemo said, glaring at her. "You look less terrified than when you came in though, so you must feel a bit relieved to have someone you know around."

"No, I'm relieved to have someone with a _gun _around." She retorted, gesturing to Rachel. "Specifically, someone that is good at using one, and isn't aiming it at me. If you had one, then I'd be worried."

Nemo walked over to Sam's machine gun that was still on the ground and picked it up. "You'd better start worrying then, cause in a place like this there's no way in hell I'm going to be without a weapon." He said, examining it. He slid out the magazine, making sure it loaded, before hanging it over his shoulder by the strap on it. "What's the plan, Rachel? You and Sam must have had a destination in mind before stumbling upon me."

Rachel looked at him rather vacantly for a moment; she had been so wrapped up in trying to understand Nemo and Amelia's conversation she wasn't expecting to be addressed. "Oh, yeah… we were going to the Citadel. Everyone's on their way there."

"Anticitizen One." Nemo mumbled mostly to himself, but loud enough for Amelia to hear, even though she didn't really know what he meant. "At least we know _when _we are now. Unless…" He turned to Rachel. "…do you know if there's been any word about Freeman?"

"I don't know. Sam and I haven't been in contact with anyone for a few hours, thanks to the Combine. We-" She stopped abruptly, just realizing something. "Wait a second… from what I gathered from your conversation, you're not even from around here… how do you know about Freeman?"

"It's a long story… but don't most people know who he is? City 17 resident or not?"

"You've got a point… all right, you there." Rachel took another pistol off her belt and tossed it to Amelia, who barely caught it. "You ever fire one of those before?"

Amelia looked at it for a second before shaking her head.

"Oh for… you're both useless. And I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you using that, now that I think about it." Rachel said, facing Nemo again. "You said you never used a gun before, right? That thing's a bit different than a pistol. There's a lot more kick to it." She explained.

"I'll figure it out." Nemo said, walking back to the window and picking up the pistol he dropped. He slipped it into a holster on his belt. The new clothes may have been odd and uncomfortable, but at least they were useful.

"For some reason, that doesn't make me feel any better." Amelia mumbled.

Rachel gave her a look that clearly said she agreed with her, but Nemo wasn't paying attention. He was looking out the window again. "All right, so we just head to the Citadel? No problem… provided we don't meet up with too much resistance." He said, feeling a bit more confident. Amelia was right, as much as he hated to admit it. Knowing what was coming made things a little easier, even though he had no idea why.

"Oy, who do you think the leader is here?" Rachel asked crossly.

"Sorry, sorry… just getting into the right state of mind for what's ahead." Nemo explained.

"That's understandable, I suppose… let's get going." Rachel said, leading the way out of the apartment.

Amelia got off the couch rather unsteadily, still looking at the gun in her hand. "So, tell me… why are we going to the Citadel?" She asked.

"Because, if any more of our friends are here, they'll be going there as well… or should be." Nemo explained, walking over to the doorway. "It's just a matter of time."

They stalked along the alley, two blocks from the apartment. Nemo glared at Amelia and Rachel as he brought up the rear, Amelia now carrying the machine gun. They had met up with a Combine patrol not long ago, and Nemo lost control of the gun after the first shot. Sure, he had mowed down half the troopers by sheer luck, but most of the bullets didn't go anywhere near the enemy, and a couple almost hit Rachel and Amelia. He turned his attention to the pistol he was absent-mindedly twirling around his finger, reminding himself he preferred handguns anyway, even though it didn't improve his mood.

As they passed an alley leading off to their left, a series of gunshots rang out, hitting the building to the trio's right. A group of Combine soldiers was charging down the alley at them, firing relentlessly. Rachel dashed ahead, while Nemo and Amelia jumped back out of the line of fire. Rachel took a couple of pot shots at them, hitting one and making the rest take cover behind the metal barrels and crates that lined the alley.

Amelia fired wildly around the corner, not even hitting one of them. Nemo stayed back, not having anywhere to shoot from. He glanced up and down the alley, hoping the enemy didn't try to box them in; it would be easy in a place like this.

Apparently Rachel had the same idea, since she yelled over the gunfire for Nemo and Amelia to go back around and get behind them. They complied without question, sprinting back to the last alley in the direction they passed.

They hurried down it, but were greeted by more soldiers once they were almost to the end of it. Amelia opened fire again, this time actually hitting them since they didn't have any cover. Nemo starting firing at them as well, running out of ammo rather quickly, since he hadn't reloaded since their last encounter with the Combine. Fortunately, they were all on the ground before Amelia ran out of ammo, even though she kept firing after they dropped.

She lowered her gun, breathing heavily. "I'm never going to get used to this… I don't see how you're finding it so easy." She mumbled. Before Nemo could respond, another soldier appeared around the corner. Nemo and Amelia quickly raised their guns and fired, but were met with an empty click, forgetting they hadn't reloaded yet. The soldier took aim at Amelia, there was a blast, and the next thing they knew the soldier had been clubbed by a metal barrel that flew across their field of vision.

They both hesitated, wondering what had just happened as they stared at the Combine soldier that was now clearly dead. A voice laughed from around the corner, startling both of them. "That'll never get old."

Someone with wavy, slightly short dark blonde hair walked into view. He was wearing a green uniform, and carrying a large device in his right hand that was glowing yellow. His ocean-blue eyes fixed upon Amelia and Nemo, he looked surprised for a moment, and then simply grinned at them. "Hey guys! What're you doing here?"

They stared blankly at him, until Amelia broke the silence. "What are we… do you even know what _you're_ doing here?! I swear… you're almost as bad as this idiot sometimes, Torrence."

"I'm nowhere near as bad as Nemo! And no, I don't know why I'm here, but I figure I'll just go with it." Torrence said simply. Nemo and Amelia exchanged concerned expressions.

"I take it back." Amelia sighed. "You're worse than this idiot."

"Now you're just being mean."

"Torr…" Nemo interrupted, just then noticing what Torrence was carrying. "Where did you get that?"

"Huh?" Torrence glanced from Nemo to the device and back. "Oh, I got it from some guy. Since he wasn't wearing a uniform like mine I figured he was a threat, so I snuck up on him, whacked him over the head with a chunk of wood and knocked him out. I took it from him so I wouldn't be unarmed." He explained. "Isn't it cool? This is what I used to shoot that barrel."

Amelia looked, despite her crack about him being worse than Nemo, a bit impressed. Nemo, on the other hand, looked shocked. "You… you…" He stuttered.

"Eh? What's up, Nemo?"

"You… idiot!" Nemo yelled, grabbing Torrence's collar and shaking him violently. "You freaking idiot! Do you have any idea what you've done?! You. Clubbed. Gordon. Freeman!"


	3. The One Free Man

_Chapter 3: The One Free Man_

Torrence stared blankly at Nemo for a moment, who was still gripping his collar tightly. "Er... who?"

Nemo let out an exasperated groan, releasing Torrence. "Idiot..." Nemo muttered, shaking his head. "Just please... _please _tell me you didn't kill him."

"Of course not. I don't think... he dropped pretty hard after I hit him, so maybe..."

"Torrence! How the hell can you not tell if someone's dead or not?!" Nemo yelled, shaking him again.

"Calm down, Nemo!" Amelia snapped, pulling him off Torrence.

"Calm dow- do you have any idea what could happen if this clueless wonder just killed Gordon Freeman?!" Nemo asked, lowering his voice slightly but clearly still panicking.

"Not really. The Half-Life games never really interested me." Amelia said, crossing her arms. "You don't need to flip out on the poor guy though."

"Thanks, Amelia." Torrence smiled at her.

She continued, not hearing him. "Sure he's an idiot, and might have doomed this world by killing the hero, but that's no reason to go nuts, start screaming and attracting every Combine within five miles here."

Torrence's smile faded and he turned away halfway through her sentence. "Ah..."

"You say something?"

"Nope."

"Enough standing around, can you take us to where you left him?" Nemo asked.

"Sure, it's not far from here."

"You've got a memory five seconds long." Amelia sighed. "What about Rachel? She's expecting our help!"

"Oh crap, I forgot all about her!" Nemo gasped, turning to run.

"I kinda gathered that." A cold voice said from the alleyway. Rachel was walking toward them, her smoking shotgun resting over her right shoulder and an irritated expression on her face. "You two are pretty useless backup, you know that?"

"Sorry, Rachel... but we got attacked, then found one of our friends and..."

"Save it. I'm mad, but there was no harm done, except to the Combine idiots that came after me." She said coldly, and then turned to Torrence. "And now we have more firepower. So blondie, you any good with a firearm?"

"Well-" Torrence began, but was promptly interrupted by Nemo.

"There's no time for chatting right now, damn it!" He shouted, temper rising again. "We have more important things to do, so hurry up!"

Torrence led the group a short distance down the street into an apartment building that didn't look much different than the one Nemo had woken up in.

"Whoever built these places has no sense of originality." Amelia said, looking around.

"A fine time to be interested in architecture..." Nemo mumbled to himself.

"What exactly are we looking for in here?" Rachel asked. None of them had bothered to fill her in, since she would probably react badly. They simply told her Torrence had lost something important and he had to come back for it.

"We told you already." Nemo said, trying to stay calm.

"Yes, but what did he lose?"

"Oh... it was my..." Torrence hesitated, thinking.

"WatchLocketButt!" Three jumbled voices said in unison.

Rachel stared at them oddly for a moment, and then they all turned to Amelia. "Did you say he lost his... butt?" She asked, obviously trying not to laugh.

"Oh... I..." Amelia stuttered, turning red. "See, I've been really really nervous since I've got here, and I was just doing what I normally do in that situation... so it just sort of slipped out..."

"What you do to... never mind, I don't think I want to know." Nemo said quickly. "You stay down here with Rachel and guard the entrance, Torrence and I will head upstairs to look for it." He hurried upstairs, pulling Torrence along with him.

Amelia buried her face in her hands. "Oh geez... how embarrassing."

Rachel waited until Nemo and Torrence's footsteps faded before speaking. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly were you thinking about that made you say that?"

"I don't really want to say... I've only ever told one person about it, and that was because I thought she wouldn't laugh..."

"Must be nice to have a friend like that." Rachel said, peering out the door into the street.

"I wouldn't know, since my friend did laugh." Amelia said, with a hint of bitterness in her tone.

"Oh."

"Still, it's not like she continually brings it up to annoy me with it like her idiot brother probably would. That Jamie can be such a jackass."

"Men can act like that when they're interested in someone... Sam... Sam did that when we first met. Maybe this Jamie has... an interest in you?"

"I doubt it. He used to, but not anymore. We broke up last year. He's just too much of a..." Amelia trailed off, trying to think of the best way to describe him that wasn't _too _rude. She thought it over, but couldn't think of anything that didn't involve excessive swearing or questionable language. She said nothing and walked over to the doorway to check for any Combine soldiers, leaving Rachel to wonder.

"Oh no... no no no..." Nemo stammered, dropping his pistol onto the ground with a clatter and dashing over to the person facedown on the floor. Right where Torrence had left him, Gordon Freeman lay unconscious with a bloody lump on the back of his head. The table leg Torrence had hit him with was still by the wall as well.

"Guess I hit him harder than I thought." Torrence commented.

"He's still breathing. At least you didn't kill him... but we had better do something about the wound." Nemo said, seemingly unable to even look directly at the wound in question. "You know anything about first aid?"

"You're the one wearing a medic uniform." Torrence pointed out as he crouched over Gordon.

"Which is a blatant mistake. You know the sight of blood makes me ill."

"You've been gunning down those soldiers, but can't stand blood. Do you know how little sense that makes?" Torrence asked.

"I... I haven't really been looking directly at them when I shoot... and once they're down I never look at them. What's splattered on the walls is bad enough."

"Haven't been... are you trying to tell me you've been shooting with your eyes closed?"

"Pretty much."

"And I was walking in front of you the whole way here?! Jeez... I'm staying three steps behind you from now on."

After ten long minutes, Amelia heard footsteps coming down the staircase. She glanced up at Torrence who, despite his earlier comment, was leading the way, Nemo right behind him. And behind them, was Gordon Freeman, who was wearing bandages around his head like a bandana.

Rachel let out a little gasp that went unnoticed by everyone except Amelia. "G-Gordon Freeman?" she stuttered, walking up to him. "It's an honor to meet you." She said, shaking his hand. Gordon smiled at her politely, but said nothing.

"Idol worship can wait, Rachel." Nemo said, pulling her away from Gordon. "Mr. Freeman, we'll watch your back, all right?"

Gordon nodded, his expression turning serious. He raised his pulse rifle and hurried over to the doorway, giving the street a quick scan before heading outside. Rachel followed him without hesitation, as did Amelia.

"Is he always that quiet, or did I give him brain damage?" Torrence asked as Nemo headed toward the door.

"Well, I've never heard him talk. Maybe he's mute or something." Nemo suggested, walking up to the doorway. "As long as he kicks ass, what does it matter? Let's go!" He said, then vanished around the corner.

"That doesn't make me feel any better for some reason." Torrence muttered to himself, bringing up the rear.

With Gordon Freeman on their side, the impossible began to seem not only possible, but downright easy. Waves of Combine soldiers came at them as they went, but they tore through them with little effort. They followed the roads for a while, and then began to climb up one of the apartment buildings for a way around one of the blockades Rachel knew about. If they could get to the roof, they could hop over a few building and climb back down, bypassing dozens of soldiers.

The resistance within the building was minimal. The group made it to the roof before the trouble began, since the next one over had almost a dozen soldiers on it. Gunfire roared and bits of both roofs were blown away in the battle. When it was all over, they had gotten though with only a handful of injuries.

Nemo spending more of his time reluctantly tending to wounds than causing them, Gordon's sniping ability with the pulse rifle, and Rachel's uncanny accuracy with a shotgun even at long range were all key to their devastating victory. Torrence having to use a pistol and Amelia not being able to aim properly kept them from being more useful.

The group hurried toward the next roof, but one of the Combine soldiers had been waiting. He lumped out of his hiding spot and Gordon promptly picked him off, but not before the soldier had thrown a grenade at them. They scattered, the roof shook from the grenade, and parts of the building crumbled.

"Is everyone okay?!" Rachel called out through the smoke. She had landed near Gordon, so she knew at least two of them were still alive. She heard someone coughing not too far away, and could tell it was Nemo. A second later Torrence's voice came from somewhere on the other side of the smoke as well. When it cleared, the four of them could see each other resting on the ground clearly, Nemo still coughing.

Rachel looked them over, and then came to a sudden realization. "Where's Amelia?!"

Amelia groaned, straining to breathe. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the sky, but the sky wasn't there. She was staring at a dirty old ceiling with a large hole in it. It looked like she had fallen through the roof, along with a few floors beneath it, before coming to a stop here.

She heard a click and looked in the direction it came from. Three Combine soldiers were looking at her, their pulse rifles raised and aiming at her face. She shifted her hand slightly, and realized her machine gun was gone; she must have dropped it in the fall. She stared weakly at them, it wasn't like she could have killed them if she did have it, she barely had the strength to move.

Torrence picked up Amelia's machine gun, which was next to a hole in the roof. He was about to suggest they go back down to get her, when the sound of pulse rifle fire echoed from the hole. Torrence dropped the machine gun in shock, and three voices cried her name in unison.


	4. Don't Follow Freeman

_Chapter 4: Don't Follow Freeman_

Only silence came from the hole in the roof, the three gathered around it standing there stunned and motionless. Torrence was the first to move, he snatched Amelia's gun from the ground and hurried off toward the staircase leading back down into the building. "Come on, Nemo."

Nemo looked up at him, his mind racing. He nodded and followed Torrence, gripping his pistol tightly.

"Where are you two going?" Rachel asked, her voice barely shaken.

"We're going to help Amelia." Torrence said simply, stopping at the stairwell door. "Are you coming?"

"Help her? You heard the gunfire... she's dead..." Rachel said quietly.

"We don't have any proof of that, so I won't believe that until I see it for myself." Torrence said stubbornly, disappearing through the doorway. Nemo made to follow him but Rachel's voice made him hesitate.

"Nemo, you heard what happened." She insisted. "You can't-"

"Torr's right. We don't have proof she's dead. Amelia may be a bitch sometimes, but she's still our friend. If there's even the slightest chance she's alive, we'll take it." Nemo said, before following after Torrence.

Rachel looked at the doorway, and then over her shoulder at Gordon, who had been watching the next roof for any signs of Combine soldiers. "What do we do now?" She asked.

Amelia lay on the floor, her eyes closed and fresh blood on her face. "Threat eliminated." The crackle of a Combine voice said. A few more pulse rifle rounds fired, and more blood splattered onto the floor. "Threat _very _eliminated. By the way, the ruse is over."

A second voice crackled over a radio. "Understood."

The Combine soldier crouched over Amelia, nudging her arm with the butt of his rifle. "Wake up sleeping beauty, you're not dead yet." His staticy voice said.

Amelia slowly opened her eyes, staring up at the white mask of the soldier looking down at her. She reached up and wiped some of the blood off her face, she was so shaken she only now realized it wasn't hers. The other two Combine soldiers that had been in the room were on the ground, dead.

"I know I said if you wanted to see me again to drop in, but I didn't mean it literally."

Amelia stared at the soldier, wondering what was happening but having a hard time finding her voice. The door to the room they were in swung open, and another soldier entered the room.

"Well, this is unexpected. Friend of yours?" The new soldier inquired.

The soldier over Amelia reached up and peeled off his mask, gasping. "Damn that's uncomfortable." He coughed, his voice lighter now that he wasn't speaking through static.

Amelia stared up at him, her jaw dropping slightly. His face and short black hair was soaked with sweat, and his face was a bit pale, but she recognized him instantly. She should, considering she dated him for almost three months.

"So is that an invitation to kiss you or what?" He asked, referring to her partially open mouth.

"You do and I'll slap you, Jamie." She said weakly.

"Feisty as ever, even at a time like this. Damn that's hot." He said with a smile.

"Drag your mind out of the gutter long enough to explain what's going on, would you?" Amelia sighed.

There was a clunk as the other Combine soldier dropped his mask to the floor. "We were the last few undercover, but we got separated. Jamie and I wound up here. Name's Barney, nice to meet you miss, but we don't have time to be sitting around. The real Combine could be up here any second."

"Right as always. You heard the man, Amelia, nap time's over." Jamie helped her up, handing her one of the pulse rifles the other soldiers had been carrying. "I hope you shoot one of these as well as you can shoot your mouth off." He joked.

"If you don't stop acting like an idiot, the only mouth getting shot off will be _yours_, Jay." She muttered, aiming the rifle at his upper lip.

"Noted. Ladies first." He smiled, gesturing to the door Barney was standing by.

"Oh please, there's no way I'm letting you walk behind me, I know what you're after." She said coldly.

"Ohh... so you want me to go first so _you _can enjoy the view." Jamie smirked.

"Just get moving!" Amelia snapped, pushing him over to the door.

"Ah, to be young again." Barney mumbled to himself as they passed, grinning.

---

"I hope they're going to be okay." Rachel said as she followed Gordon, who was sprinting along the rooftop. She wasn't fond of the idea of leaving Torrence and Nemo behind, but she didn't want to leave Gordon on his own either.

They jumped onto the next roof and hurried over to the staircase, heading down it without stopping to check for soldiers. They should have. A hail of bullets came from the lower floors and the duo barely had time to avoid it.

The moment there was a break in the gunfire; Gordon dashed over to the railing and shot something down at them. Rachel barely had time to register what Gordon had just done, and zero time to brace herself. The building shook as an explosion came from the bottom of the stairwell. Rachel stared at Gordon as smoke rose from below, the sound of Combine solders below them gone.

"Jeez Gordon, didn't anyone bother to teach you the meaning of the word overkill?" She commented, looking at the RPG in his hand and shaking her head. Gordon responded with a smile, and started down the staircase.

Halfway down, shortly before the part that Gordon had destroyed, Rachel heard a voice coming from down one of the hallways. It sounded like someone crying. She turned and went down the hall, Gordon hesitated for a moment before following.

Rachel peered into the room it was coming from. Six corpses, all wearing a uniform like hers, were strewn about the floor, riddled with bullet holes. She moved slowly into the room, stepping over the bodies and moving toward the bathroom, where the sound was coming from. She stopped just outside the door.

"Hello?"

The crying stopped abruptly. "Who... who's there?"

"We're not Combine, don't worry. Are you hurt?" Rachel asked, daring to peer into the bathroom.

A woman with long red hair was sitting in the bathtub, a crossbow leaning up against it. The red cross on the sleeve of her tan uniform barely visible beneath the hair obscuring it. "No... I'm fine." She said weakly. "Those people though... those soldiers... they're all..."

"I know. It's not easy when you're not used to it, but there's nothing anyone can do now." Rachel said calmly, walking into the bathroom and lowering her shotgun. "Come on, you can come with us. It's better than being on your own."

The medic stared up at her with teary eyes. "Y-yeah... thanks..."

Rachel helped her up, handed her the crossbow by the tub, and leading her out of the bathroom. "Okay, Gordon. We're..." Rachel trailed off, looking around the room. Gordon was nowhere in sight. "What the... that... ASS!" She yelled, making the medic jump.

---

"Watch where you're shooting!" Torrence yelled, ducking behind a crate.

"Sorry!" Nemo called back, forcing himself not to look away when he fired, but flinching with every gunshot. Two soldiers dropped and he went to reload, but couldn't find another clip. "Crap... I'm out, Torrence! It's up to you!"

Torrence crept over to the corner of the crate; the Combine's gunfire was focused on the pile of metal barrels Nemo was hiding behind. Torrence took a deep breath and spun to aim around the corner, opening fire on the four soldiers that were left. Three of them dropped before his magazine was empty. Torrence slid back behind the crate and made to reload, not noticing he had just used up the rest of his ammo as well.

The last soldier seemed to realize it the same moment as they both did. He charged forward, his pulse rifle raised and aiming at the crate Torrence was behind. Nemo leapt out from behind his cover without fully thinking it through, there wasn't time for that. He hurled his pistol at the soldier, it flew within inches of his head, not doing any damage but it was enough to get his attention. He shifted his aim before Nemo could get back behind the barrels, a lone gunshot echoed through the room, and the soldier was thrown forward, slamming into the ground.

A person in a Combine uniform was at the other end of the room, but his mask and hood were both off, revealing his light blonde hair. A smoking revolver was in his right hand, aiming at where the soldier had been standing. "See that, Nemo? Guns are for shooting, not throwing. It's a lot more effective."

"The last person I need a marksmanship lesson from is you." Nemo said defiantly, picking up one of the pulse rifles on the ground. "I was wondering when you would show up, and almost certain when you did you'd be packing one of those." He said, referring to the soldier's revolver.

"How could you expect to see him with all that's going on?" Torrence asked, picking up a pulse rifle as well. "I mean... considering where we are..."

"What you need to consider, is where we were. My memory may suck most of the time, but there's no way I could forget the last little bit of sanity before all this happened... well, not for long anyway. I was clueless for a while after waking up, but bits are coming back." Nemo explained.

"Jamie said the same thing." The soldier said.

"Jamie's here too?" Torrence asked, looking surprised.

"Yeah, I was with him earlier, but we got separated. He was in a uniform like this too, so I hope he didn't get himself shot."

"So all six of us are here somewhere... if we could just find each other we might be able to figure out that's going on." Nemo muttered.

"Have you seen Amelia down here anywhere?" Torrence asked.

The soldier shook his head. "Nope. Apart from Jamie, I've only run into you guys."

"A medic." Nemo mumbled to himself.

Torrence glanced at him. "Come again?"

"She must be dressed as a medic. Think about it, Torr. You and Amelia were dressed in those green uniforms, Jamie and Luke here ended up as Combine troops, and I'm stuck in this medic uniform. Doesn't it make sense that she'd be in medic gear too? It would even it out."

"You're the one trying to even everything out, as usual." Luke said.

"Stow it, Barbie."

"Don't start, you two." Torrence sighed, walking by them. "We have to find Amelia."

"You've gotta stop calling me that, Nemo." Luke grumbled as he followed Torrence. "Those idiots in town that heard it somehow got the impression you gave me that nickname after seeing me dressed up in women's clothing."

"Now that's a disturbing thought." Nemo laughed.

"Like you didn't start the idea!"

"What?! I did no such thing!"

"The hell you didn't!"

"Why do I get stuck with these two?" Torrence sighed, his comment unnoticed over the exchange of insults now going on behind him.


	5. Triple Threat

_Chapter 5: Triple Threat_

Two more Combine soldiers slammed against the wall and slumped onto the floor. A clatter of rounds fell to the ground as Luke reloaded. "You know, you should save that for when we really need it. Magnum ammo is hard to come by." Nemo pointed out, putting more pulse rifle ammo into a pocket on his belt for later.

"At least I hit every time, unlike you." Luke replied, sliding his last four bullets into the revolver and closing it with a snap. "Haven't you ever heard the expression aim and shoot? The first is hard to do if your eyes are shut."

"Would you two keep it down?" Torrence complained. "We're looking for Amelia, in case you forgot."

"Yeah, and why exactly are we looking for her? In case YOU forgot, she's not exactly the nicest person around."

"Yeah, but if anything happened to her..." Torrence trailed off.

"Liza and Jamie would both be pissed we didn't even try to help her." Nemo said. "Not to mention I wouldn't be too pleased with myself if I did nothing."

"Didn't think of that. Jamie still has it bad for her, doesn't he?" Luke muttered, glancing around the corner and down another hallway of the building. They had passed the room Amelia landed in and found it empty. The only tracks they found led downstairs, so that's where they were headed... back to the streets.

"Jamie has it bad for anything female."

"That's true."

"The same could be said about you, Luke." Nemo chuckled.

"Don't compare me to someone like that." Luke said shortly.

"I think you both fit the description." Torrence mumbled, heading down the hallway with his rifle raised.

"Hey, I'm not like that around women..." Nemo said in a hurt tone.

Luke smirked. "No, you're too terrified of them to speak properly."

"Quiet, there's something moving out there." Torrence interrupted, looking out one of the windows they had to pass.

"A Combine ambush?" Luke asked, ducking down and running to the other side of the window for a look.

"I can't tell..."

Nemo nudged Torrence to the side for a look. Once the saw the movement of a shadow he moved out of sight quickly. He didn't get a clear look, but it didn't seem like a Combine soldier.

"I know what that is." Luke said suddenly, grinning.

Rachel walked silently down the staircase, still feeling a bit embarrassed. After her little outburst in the room, Gordon's face appeared in the doorway. He had only gone to check the other rooms, not abandon them as she first thought. She tried to get her mind off it. "So, you said your name was Elizabeth?" She asked the medic.

The medic nodded. "Yeah... nobody calls me by my full name though... except my parents. People usually shorten it to Elli or Liz... and occasionally Liza for some reason."

"I knew a girl with that name... she usually went by Beth. Names with more than six letters seem to always get a shorter version or two. You could also make stupid names like Iza and Zabe out of yours."

"I'd rather nobody did that." She replied, smiling weakly.

A series of gunshots rang out, startling both of them. They looked down at the base of the staircase just as Gordon gunned down the last of three headcrabs that had been lurking around the ground floor. Giving the area another scan before going over to the door leading outside, he signaled for them to follow and headed out into the streets.

Rachel glanced at Liza as they approached the doorway, noticing the hesitant look on her face. "Don't worry, Gordon Freeman's with us. We'll be fine."

"I hope you're right."

An explosion shook the building, and the corpse of a combine soldier landed by Amelia's feet. She muttered something and quickly looked away.

"You okay?" Jamie asked, looking to see how much damage Barney's grenade had done. There was gaping hole in the hallway floor now, but their attackers were all dead.

"I didn't think bodies could bend like that..." She mumbled, keeping her focus elsewhere.

"I've seen worse." Barney commented, reloading his machine gun. "Be thankful the worst we've run into are the Combine."

"You mean there are things worse than them?" Amelia asked, stepping around the corpse.

"Everyone knows compared to the striders, the average Combine soldiers are a joke." Barney glanced into one of the rooms off the hallway, making sure no soldiers were simply waiting until they went past to take a shot. "You didn't know?"

"Striders...?"

"Trust me, Amelia. You don't want to know." Jamie said, shouldering his pulse rifle. "Barney, where to next?"

"There's a place we can rest about two blocks away." Barney explained, jumping down the hole to the floor below. "Last I heard it was secure, and the Combine couldn't have taken it easily if they tried. We should go there."

"Right."

Once Jamie and Amelia had joined him, Barney led the way to the staircase. Once it came into view, he stopped suddenly. The sound of two guns being hastily readied came from behind him.

"Combine?" Jamie asked in a whisper, glancing over her shoulder.

Barney shook his head. "Hard to say, but I do hear gunfire."

"If there's trouble, maybe we should avoid it." Amelia suggested.

"We can't do that. If the Combine are attacking more of our troops, we have to help." He said firmly, moving forward. "Come on, you two."

"Wimp." Luke said, holstering his revolver.

Nemo was leaning out a broken window, breathing heavily. "Excuse me... for having a weak stomach."

"Some medic you'd be... getting sick at the sight of a half-gutted zombie."

"Don't forget the lack of bedside manner." Torrence added, gunning down the last zombie of the group that attacked them.

"Shut up..." Nemo muttered, finally beginning to feel slightly better. Until he turned and saw the corpses on the floor. "Oh geez..." He hurried down the hall and out of the building, only giving a very brief glance to his surroundings.

Torrence emerged from the doorway behind him, reloading his rifle. "Well, where do we go from here? We didn't find Amelia anywhere, so she must have gone off on her own."

"How stupid can you get?" Luke commented, glancing down the road. It was clear, for now.

"If she has any sense, she'll be headed for the citadel. If we keep going that way we should be able to find her." Nemo suggested, starting down the street. He stopped after three steps, raising his rifle. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?" Torrence asked, looking around.

Luke listened for a moment, his hand on his revolver, and then turned his attention to the sky. "Look out!" He yelled, quickly firing into the air.

The other two raised their guns into the air as well, taking aim at the metal objects flying straight at them.

"Oh crap, manhacks!" Nemo yelled, firing wildly at them.

Torrence moved out of the way as two exploded, shards of metal raining down on him. One flew at him as he shielded his eyes from the falling wreckage, and he barely had time to move out of the way when he saw it. It sliced through part of his left forearm as it passed, and crashed into the side of the building behind him. He gunned it down before it could get airborne again, trying to keep his focus on the manhacks instead of the pain in his arm.

Luke shot another out of the sky easily, then took aim at one that was soaring barely a foot above the street at him. An empty click met his ears when he pulled the trigger. He cursed, reaching for more ammo only to come up empty. Before he could even consider dodging the manhack was met with a hail of pulse rifle fire, and it exploded almost instantly, dropping to the ground with a clatter.

"See why you should use something you don't have to reload after only six shots?" Nemo said, lowering his rifle.

"At least it can kill damn near anything with one shot. That thing takes four or five." Luke countered.

"Hey medic, little help here?" Torrence spoke up, gripping the wound on his arm and leaning against the building.

Nemo's face turned slightly pale when he saw the blood on Torrence's sleeve. "Oh crap, Torr!"

While Nemo was awkwardly tending to Torrence's arm, Luke headed down the road a little ways to scout for anything else that might try to kill them. The explosion of the last manhack had left a ringing in his ears, but he thought he faintly heard someone scream. The sound that followed was clear enough, though. Gunfire, from somewhere in the distance.

"Not so tight, you'll cut off circulation to my arm!" Torrence complained.

"Excuse me for being new at this." Nemo muttered.

"Hey, you guys can play doctor later! Sounds like we have trouble on the way!" Luke called back to them.

"There's a shocker." Nemo sighed.

"It sure seems to be the day for it." Torrence agreed.


	6. Six Players

Liza screamed, running behind a pile of rubble for cover as bullets tore up the side of the building beside her. Three more Combine rushed out of the building across from their hiding spot while Rachel and Gordon continued to fire at the soldiers that were pouring out of their destination.

"I thought you said it was a safehouse!" Liza yelled over the gunfire.

"Last I knew it was, it would've taken an army of Combine to take it over!" Rachel answered, gunning down another soldier.

"It looks like that's what they used!"

The blast from a grenade Gordon had thrown while they were talking sent the three new Combine flying. However, there were four more running outside to take their place. Rachel swore, using her last three shotgun shells to take down one of them. She tossed her shotgun on the ground, taking the pistol from her belt and continuing to fire on the Combine.

Liza watched the two firing wildly, trembling in fright. She couldn't just sit there and not help... there had to be something she could do. Glancing down at the crossbow in her hands, she took a deep breath and raised up enough so she could take a shot. She was knocked to the ground as she let the bolt fly, not expecting nearly that much kick from a crossbow.

"Nice shot, right through the gut!" Rachel exclaimed, grabbing Liza with her free hand and pulling her upright.

"Thanks..." Liza replied with much less enthusiasm. She was, in some way, glad she had hit... but could have done without knowing.

"Damn... more of them? This is insane!" Rachel said after turning back to the building the Combine were continuing to emerge from. She counted almost a dozen.

A flurry of plasma rounds suddenly rained down from one of the upper windows, directly at the Combine. One in the middle of the group fell, and the others quickly turned their aim, trying to find the source. As they did, more of the same came from further down the road, the trio's view of the shooter being blocked by another building. The gunner in one of the upper windows joined in again, and the remaining Combine dropped during a vain attempt to counter attack.

The gunfire ceased. A few moments after it looked like no more troops were going to come out of the building, the group of three that had been firing from somewhere down the road came into view.

"I've never seen that many in one place before. Glad they went down easy." One of them commented.

"I think we just got lucky, it can't last forever though." Another said.

The third shook his head. "Always the optimist."

"You two idiots are actually still alive?!" Rachel exclaimed, standing up.

The trio looked over at her, and one of them raised his hand to wave. "Hey, Rachel! Surprising to run into you again so soon after you ditched us!"

"WE ditched YOU?!" She snapped. "You're the ones that ran off looking for a corpse!"

Liza blinked, peering over their cover at the newcomers. She wasn't sure what to think... was it really them?

"Friend of yours, Nemo?" One of the three asked.

"Hardly. Though she is handy with a shotgun... provided you can keep her around long enough for it to show." Nemo replied with a shrug. "Right, Torr?"

"She's on our side, Luke... that's what matters." Torrence said, trying to evade the question. He turned to Rachel. "I don't suppose you've run into Amelia out here?"

"What are you talking about?" Rachel wondered. "She's dead. Even if you didn't find a body, they could-"

Liza snapped back to their current reality at that comment. "Amelia's... dead?!"

"Do I look dead to you?! Damn it Rachel, stop scaring my friend!" Amelia snapped, appearing in the doorway the Combine had been flooding out of with Jamie at her heels. "Sure I would have been if Jamie here hadn't saved my ass, but you don't go around saying someone's bit the big one without proof!"

"Of course I saved your ass, it's too nice to get shot." Jamie commented.

Amelia responded by bashing the butt of her rifle into his gut. "Not now, moron." She said, glaring at him before hurrying over to Liza. "Are you okay?"

Liza nodded, looking at her, then Jamie and the others. She was relieved they were all safe, but remembering where they were and why made her want to cry from the feelings of guilt it brought. She turned her attention to the ground, biting her lip. "I'm sorry." She mumbled. "It's all my fault. We're stuck here... all because of me."

---

The group took cover in the safehouse, gathering in one of the rooms and blocking the only door with a bookshelf so they could rest for at least a few minutes without being shot at. Rachel and Gordon went to the window, having a one-sided chat, while the others took refuge in the corner for a private conversation.

Torrence chose to speak up first. "What did you mean it's your fault we're here?" He asked, looking at Liza.

"It was another of her crazy contraptions, obviously." Jamie pointed out. "No other reason we'd be in a place like this."

"Actually, when I first came to, I figured it was another of your dumb practical jokes." Nemo said, glaring at him.

"Please, my jokes are short-lived, harmless fun." Jamie replied with a shrug.

"Short-lived my ass. I still haven't forgiven you about the shampoo incident, since I still hear about it constantly." He shot back.

"Oh yeah, I remember that." Luke chuckled. "You had pink hair for a week. It suited you."

"Seriously? I can't believe I missed that!" Amelia laughed.

Nemo expanded his glare to all three of them. "Shut. Up." He growled, raising his plasma rifle. "Or we'll find out how friendly fire works in this simulation."

"Nemo, don't. There was a problem when the system started up." Liza said, her voice strained. "I'm not sure what exactly happened, so I don't know what the effects will be."

"Isn't there like a switch or code you can use to turn the machine off?" Torrence asked. "You usually set your inventions with something like that so they don't cause too much damage."

"I did. It's just not working. Some of the other subsystems are, but they're acting strange. Like the virtual console I set up." Liza took a device from her back pocket and looked at it. "It was... wait, this is weird. Those symbols that were everywhere are..." She glanced up at them for a moment, then back down. "Jamie, move back a bit."

"Okay..." He took two steps backwards. "...now what?"

"Right, got it. These symbols are us, but there's no way to tell one from the other right..." She trailed off as four of the others crowded around her to look. "I can't believe this." She sighed, glancing at the only person not leaning over her console. "You're the only one that noticed it in your pocket?"

Torrence grinned, holding up a device matching Liza's. "Seems that way. Shocking, huh?"

Luke frowned. "You probably just fell on it and noticed the lump in your pocket."

"True, but at least I found it, even though I wasn't sure what it was for."

Liza waited for everyone to dig out their own console before continuing. "Now, as I was saying... those green symbols are us."

"What about the yellow and blue ones?" Amelia asked.

"Yellow or gold is used for main characters, in this case, Gordon over there. Blue are characters the system generates from a selection of preset AIs to help us out. I only set up a dozen or so, Rachel's one of the more durable ones, so she'll come in handy." She explained.

"That's impressive. I'd never expect you to come up with something this advanced." Nemo said, pushing a few buttons on his console.

"Be impressed later." Jamie grumbled. "Where the hell is whatever gets us out of here?"

"Um... that's the problem." Liza mumbled. "The log-out icon isn't showing up. I think the data was corrupted."

"So how do we leave?"

"I... I'm not sure." Everyone except Torrence stared at her.

Nemo shook his head. "You're telling me we're stuck in a Half-Life version of a Dot Hack situation?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"What's this purple arrow along the edge of the screen?" Torrence asked.

She glanced at her console. "Oh, that should be the objective marker."

"Would following that get us out?" Nemo wondered.

"It... could. I couldn't say for sure though."

"It's all we have to go on right now. Let's see where it leads." Luke suggested, walking over to the window and aiming his console outside. "Looks like it's pointing to the Citadel."

"Big surprise." Nemo said sarcastically, gesturing in Gordon's direction. "Follow Freeman."

Luke glared at him, but Amelia spoke up first. "Save the aggression for the Combine, boys. We have to get moving."

"Alright then, lead on Gordon." Torrence said, shoving the bookshelf that had been blocking the door out of the way.

---

Liza sprinted to keep up with Rachel and Gordon as they hurried down the street, the pulse rifle rounds soaring past more than enough motivation to keep moving. The end of the street was blocked by a mound of rubble, but the building they were passing had a gaping hole in the side that would provide both cover and shelter if they could get that far.

Rachel rounded the corner first and screamed something less than polite about headcrabs, her shotgun going off twice. Gordon hurried inside and joined the fray, but Liza skidded to a stop just on the other side, poking her head back around the corner to see what was keeping the rest of the group.

Combine soldiers had been chasing them since they left the last building, and a small army had built up since they kept running without bothering to shoot back until a short time ago. That's what was keeping the other five.

"What do you mean nobody has a freaking grenade!?" Nemo shouted. "One could take out a third of that group, considering how many of the bastards are crammed together!"

"Less bitching, more shooting!" Luke snapped, squeezing off a couple shots with his magnum.

"Amelia's shooting enough for all of us, I think!" Jamie yelled over the constant gunfire and screaming coming from her direction. She was just holding her machine gun over the top of the wreckage the five of them had crowded behind and firing blindly.

"I can't believe how often she's actually hitting doing that!" Torrence exclaimed with a laugh.

Liza rolled her eyes at them. "I can't believe they actually sound like they're enjoying themselves..." She sighed. A flicker of light crossed her view and she moved away from the door just as a bullet struck blew away part of the wall where she had been standing. "Holy crap!"

The light reappeared outside, this time letting her see it was straight beam. It drifted away and she gasped, rushing back to the hole and yelling "Sniper!" just as the beam came to rest on the group fighting the Combine.

They all looked, and there was a shout to scatter from someone a moment before the sniper's gunshot rang out. It was too fast to tell who, but Liza saw the shot strike one of them squarely in the chest, followed by a flash of crimson from their front and back as they fell limply to the ground.


End file.
